Magnitude 5.4 Quake Rocks North Maluku

Jakarta, Indonesia (News Today) - An earthquake measuring 5.4 on the Richter scale jolted North Maluku province early on Monday, the office of Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said. The earthquake which took place at 0.34 am was located at 0.59 degrees southern latitude and -127.47 degrees eastern longitude at a depth of 30 km. It was about five km northeast of Labuha, North Maluku.

According to the BMKG, the epicenter of the quake was also located 152 km southeast of Ternate (capital of North Maluku province), 232 km northeast of Sanana (Maluku), 339 km southeast of Bitung (North Sulawesi) and 2,375 km northeast of Jakarta. It has no potentials to create a tsunami.

Last Wednesday, an earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale jolted eastern Indonesian city of Ambon. The BMKG said here last Wednesday that the epicenter of the earthquake was located at 3.32 degrees southern latitude and 127.41 degrees eastern longitude at a depth of 10 km under the sea level.

The epicenter was also 90 kilometers northwest of Ambon, 211 kilometers southeast of Sanana, 297 kilometers southwest of Labuha, 455 kilometers southeast of Ternate, and 2,308 kilometers northeast of Jakarta. Indonesia is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire", an arch of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

Last Thursday, August 26, 2010, a 5.3 magnitude earthquake also jolted West Southeast Maluku district town of Saumlaki at 9.21 am Eastern Indonesia Standard Time (WIT). The quake’s epicenter was located 6.61 degrees southern latitude and 130.28 degrees eastern longitude, at a depth of 123 km below sea level, and around 190 km northwest of Saumlaki, Maluku, according to information from the meteorological, climatology and geophysics agency. A day before, a 5.6 magnitude shook Sanana Maluku Province, with its epicenter located 0.98 degrees southern latitude and 124.68 degrees eastern longitude, at a depth of 10 km under the seabed.

Source : kompas

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